Being and Having an Identity: Catherine Opie

Abstract

In this essay Catherine Opie's social documentary photographic work is interpreted as a persuasive visual commentary on the mutual and constituting relationships between subjects and their context. Opie became particularly well known for her exploration of gender, sexuality, and queer identities. However, a midcareer survey of her work at the Guggenheim New York made clear that her work expands much beyond. Whether in her portraits of gay families across America, performance S&M artists, surfers, or modern highway complexes, Opie unsettles and demands that we question what we think we know. Considering her body of work as a whole reveals the relevance and importance of identity politics.

Notes

¹Althusser (1969) described the process of Interpellation as the mechanism through which the authoritative voice of the State recognizes the individual and hails him or her into social existence. Interpellation brands state ideology into the subject and thereby confers identity. Althusser's famous example is of a passerby who when hailed by a policeman—“Hey you!”—turns, instantly and guiltily recognizing that he is the one who is hailed.

“Catherine Opie: American Photographer” was a midcareer retrospective at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, September 26, 2008–January 7, 2009. For the images mentioned, the reader may consult the online exhibition: http://web.guggenheim.org/exhibitions/opie/exhibition.html.